The Choice
by tuggerina
Summary: Christine is in the Phantom's lair with him and Raoul. She kisses him in the hopes that he will let both of them go, not realizing that kiss would awaken something inside of her. She begins to realize that it is the Phantom who she truly wants to be with. She is the only one who could ever possibly love him.


**Author's note: This is a fanfiction that is based off of the Phantom of the Opera movie with Gerard Butler. It is my first fanfiction and I really wanted to write this because I ship the phantom and Christine so much! **

**I do not own these characters, I am just using them in this story :) **

**I hope you like it**

As Christine stood there watching her childhood sweetheart and the man who had always been there for her fight, she felt a deep anguish. How could she possibly choose between them like the Phantom demanded?

Raoul cried out as the Phantom's grip tightened. Tears began to fall down her face. How could she leave Raoul? The boy she had fallen in love with such a very long time ago, how could she betray him like that? But how could she leave the Phantom either? He was her Angel of Music, the man who had been her guide since she was a little girl. She felt a pull towards them both. There was no possible way she could win. If she chose the Phantom, Raoul could be free, and he could go on with his life, he could find someone else. If she chose Raoul, as the Phantom so graciously put, she would be sending her lover to his death.

The choice was made. She took a step towards the Phantom, intending to show him what intimacy from another human being was like.

Pitiful creature of darkness  
>What kind of life have you known?<br>God give me courage to show you you are not alone

As she sung the last syllable of alone she slowly reached towards the Phantom, taking his face into her hands. She gently kissed him on the lips. He looked down at her in astonishment and surprise. After a long life of never feeling another human's touch like that, someone had finally shown him compassion. That was all he wanted, for someone to be kind to him. For someone to show him that not all humans were the same, that they weren't all terrible monsters who whipped him and beat him. Tears began to form in his eyes as he remembered the beatings he had received when he was just a little boy, such a monstrosity to the world, and yet just craving a companion.

Christine had only intended to show him compassion in the hopes that maybe he would let her go. After that kiss though, something had awoken inside of her. A deep desire and longing for him that she had never felt before. Could she possibly be feeling affection towards him? He was a murderer, a dark and evil creature of the night. He had tried to force her to stay with him, he had threatened to kill Raoul. After all that had happened, how could she possibly be having feelings for this dark man?

He had been her Angel of Music for so long though, the unseen voice that had guided her throughout the years. The man that had encouraged her to sing and had helped her to become the singer she was now. He had always been there, in the shadows. He had always strived to make her the best, and to reveal the potential that she carried, and he had done just exactly that.

He had wanted her to stay with him for the rest of his life, shown her the man behind the mask. He had thought that maybe in time she would not be horrified by the deformity of his face, that she could maybe even learn to love him someday. Now that she had shown him such compassion, he wasn't sure he could force her to stay with him. She had given him the thing he had been looking for all his love though, how could he just let it go? But she made him happy by showing him compassion, so he should do the same, shouldn't he?

Take her - forget me - forget all of this...  
>Leave me alone - forget all you've seen...<br>Go now - don't let them find you!  
>Take the boat - leave me know, swear never to tell, the secrets you know, of the angel in hell<br>GO NOW!  
>GO NOW AND LEAVE ME!<p>

Both Christine and Raoul gawked at him. He was letting both of them go? Christine rushed over to Raoul to untie him. As she untied him, she kissed him fiercely, holding him in her embrace.

The Phantom could hear them coming, their march getting louder and louder, their voices echoing through the tunnels that had become his home.

Christine and Raoul got into the boat, and slowly drifted away, singing soft words of love and sweetness to each other. Christine would never know the pain those words caused him. He had let her go to be happy, but he would always love her. Now he would spend his life alone forever, he would have to find a new place, as the mob of people searching for him were almost here.

He stands there for a few minutes, listening to the little monkey on the musical box play its music. Maybe it would be easier to just give in and die. His plans of taking Christine away with him in the hopes that she would love him someday were gone. That was all he wanted, and now there was no chance of it. What did he have left to live for? Nothing.

He hears a noise behind him and turned around. Christine stood there silently, watching him. He looks at her in astonishment and says "You came back." He did not understand. He had let her go, he had set her free to be with Raoul, and yet here she was standing before him.

She was still holding the ring that he had given her, and for a fleeting moment, he thought that she just come back to give him the ring. Of course that is what she did, why else would she be here? She loved Raoul, and she would never love a man as dark and broken as he was. He took a step towards her, holding his hand out for the ring, trying to hide the tears in his eyes. She shook her head silently and slipped the ring onto her finger.

He looked at her with happiness upon his face. Had she changed her mind? She was going to stay with him? "I don't understand. I let you go. I let you go be with Raoul. You love him, don't you? Don't you want to be with him?"

"He is my childhood sweetheart, and we will always have a history together, but he will find someone else. He will find another girl that he can be happy with. You have been my constant guide, you are my Angel of Music, and after that kiss I realized that I feel affection towards you. You make everyone fear you and hate you because you do not know love. Maybe in time you can know what it is like to feel love from another human being. I want to stay with you, and find out who you truly are. I want to learn about the dark, lonely, and broken man that stands before me."

After she said that to him, she reached up and touched his face. She ran her fingers along the ugly red marks, wanting to show him that she was not repulsed by them, he jumped as she touched them, startled. She kissed him on the lips once more, and then boldly kissed his scars. She kissed all of them gently. The Phantom looked down at her with love. Could she really learn to love him? Was she really no longer repulsed by his face? Maybe she could heal his dark and broken soul. Maybe she could make him into a man that he wanted to be, an honorable man that he wanted to be for her now. Maybe there was hope for him after all.

The voices of the mob continued to grow louder and louder, the mob was almost upon them. "Quickly now, we must leave. They are almost here." the Phantom said in a stern voice. And so he and Christine leave out of one of the many exits to the home he had come to love over the years. The only home that he had ever really had. They both vanished into the night.

The mob got there to find nothing. The Phantom was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Christine. Raoul searched for Christine for years after that, hoping he would find the woman that he had wanted to spend his life with, but he never did. Christine and the Phantom were never to be seen again.


End file.
